Abba, thank You for all these faithful men and women who love You and just want to serve You in any way they can. Thank You for their families and loved ones who also love and serve You. Many of them are going through a lot of things in this life.

I know some are facing financial struggles…yet You are faithful. I pray that You continue to provide for them and show Yourself to be Mighty for them. Please give them favor with their creditors.

Some have recently lost loved ones. Others lost loved ones during the year and have been experiencing Hanukkah or Christmas for the first time without them. Others are missing loved ones they lost in previous years. They are all grieving, Abba. Please comfort them as only You can.

Abba, some are continuing to experience sickness and/or pain…either their own or a loved one’s. Please bring Your complete healing. Touch them all deeply in whatever area needs to be touched. Please heal them or give their doctors’ wisdom in knowing how to treat them.

Some, Abba, are just plain hurting…emotionally or mentally. I ask that You be with them in a special way. Only You know what they truly need. Help to meet that need. Hold them closely and fill them with Your healing Shalom.

Abba, in all these things, please raise up Your body to be Your hands and feet and voice. May we all shine Your light in the darkness. May we love You through loving others. You said that pure religion is taking care of orphans and widows. May we do that. Open our eyes to see the orphans and widows of today. They aren’t always only those without fathers or mothers or spouses. Help us to see that and reach out to them.

There are many lonely people out there, Abba. May we bring Your love to them. Help us to look beyond ourselves to see others as You see them. Help us to love them as You love them. May we never forget who we are in You. May we never neglect, when given the opportunity, to share that with others who also need to see (or be reminded) of who they are and who You are. b’shem Yeshua

Yahweh’s ways are so different from our own. His thoughts are not like our thoughts. Every time I think I have something figured out in the spiritual realm, Yahweh shows me something more…or something different. He opens my eyes and teaches me things I cannot see on my own.

It might be a bit of insight into something I am reading or something I am going through. It might be a lesson learned or a way of applying scripture to my life that I had not seen before. It might be seeing something about myself that I had missed thus far…something I might not like seeing.

Whatever it is that Yahweh shows me, I know that it is always for my good and for the good of others around me. It will change me more into the image of Yeshua and make me more fit for the work of the kingdom of heaven. I have a lot of rough edges that need to be refined. Yahweh is in the business of doing that refining.

The biggest thing, though, that I think He has done is to change my heart. He has softened it in so many ways. I had to toughen it up to survive and He has been softening it. I am able to love more than I was before. Really, though, it is the love of Yeshua flowing through me. My love is pitiful. I can be so selfish and self-centered. It is HIS love that causes me to be sensitive to others. I long to be way more sensitive than I am. I trust the Ruach HaKodesh/Holy Spirit to keep changing me.

If I could have an epitaph of my choosing, I think I would want it to read something like this:

She loved well.
She loved Yahweh.
She loved people.
We saw Yeshua in her.
She loved well.

Abba, I praise You and thank You for all that You allow in our lives. I know that You are teaching us and causing us to grow and become more like Your Son Yeshua. Help us to co-operate with the work of Your Ruach HaKodesh that dwells within us.

Abba, in these sobering times, help us to remember to always keep our hearts tuned into Yours. Help us to remember that what we see here in this life is temporary. It will pass away. It is the souls of people that are eternal. May we be diligent to keep on doing the work that You have given to each one of us. Help us to see Your kingdom in the hearts of people right here. Give us the love we need to help others to see the kingdom. Give us Your words, spoken in love, to reach out to others.

Abba, there are many who are facing serious situations in either their lives or the lives of loved ones. Please touch each one and meet their needs. Bring healing. Bring reconciliation. Bring salvation. Bring Your provision in the many areas of need. Bring safe travel. Bring comfort. Bring forgiveness.

Abba, may we who are Your hands and feet and tongues help in meeting the needs of others. May we begin with the household of the saints so that others may know that we are Yours by our love one for another. And may we reach out to a lost, hurting world bringing to them the Good News of what Yeshua has done for them.

May we always remember that every good thing we have comes from You. We, by ourselves, are nothing. With You, however, we are everything we need to be and everything You desire for us to be. Help us to submit to Your loving correction when we start to go astray. Help us to seek You when see temptation awaiting us. Help us to hear Your voice, especially when we are ridiculed or abandoned because of our faithfulness to You. Thank You for being faithful to us.

Yahweh, help us to love You with all of our hearts, all of our souls, all of our minds and all of our strengths. Help us to love our neighbor as ourselves. Help us to love one another. May You be glorified in our words and in our actions. b’shem Yeshua

When I said “good morning” to my Abba upon awaking this morning, I asked Him what He wanted me to see in His word today. He started with Tehillah/Psalm 116. As I read, it spoke so much to my heart and to what I have experienced in life…and to some degree still am experiencing. It is as if the Psalmist was speaking the words of MY heart!

The very first words impacted me. “I love that Yahweh heard my voice when I prayed; because He turned His ear to me, I will call on Him as long as I live.” Yes! I DO love that He heard me. I know that He continues to hear me. He does not turn a deaf ear to my cries. He HEARS! And because He hears…I WILL call on Him as long as I live!

There are many times in my life when I have cried out to Him. Many times I wondered what He would do…or even IF He would do anything. Yet, I kept crying out. I knew in my heart that He was listening. I knew in my heart that, even though I did not understand what on earth He was doing in my life at that time, that He WAS doing something. I also knew that something was good, even if I could not see the goodness in it until a long time later.

The next words were also mine: “The cords of death were all around me, Sh’ol’s constrictions held me fast: I was finding only distress and anguish. But I called on the name of Yahweh: ‘Please, Yahweh! Save me!'” There are many kinds of death. There is the death of innocence that takes place with sexual abuse. There is the death of a reputation when lies are told about a person. There is the death of a marriage through divorce. There is the death of trust through domestic violence and/or adultery. There is the death of friendship through betrayal. And, of course, there is physical death with all of its ramifications.

I have experienced several different kinds of death. It definitely felt, at times, like the cords of death were all around me and Sh’ol was constricting me. Everywhere I turned, I found only distress and anguish. Yet…He did save me…many times, actually! He has brought much healing to my life and I owe my life to Him. Without Him I would not be alive…or I would be alive and non-functioning.

There are many other things in this Tehillah that speak to me, but I will save that for other posts. I hope that you, too, are walking with Yeshua/Jesus in your life today. Remember that He DOES hear your cries. Cry out to Him today. Recognize your need for Him. He IS there! When we accept Him as Lord of our lives, He promises to never leave us or forsake us. He listens for you!

Abba, grab hold of our hearts! Mold us! Shape us! Change us! Touch each one of us reading this right now.

Make us usable in Your kingdom, Abba. Remove from us all that hinders our ability to love You with all of our hearts, all of our souls, all of our minds and all of our strengths! Expose to our hearts the idols we harbor and take them from us. May there be NOTHING between You and us, Your children!

Help us to love our neighbors as ourselves, Abba. Help us to consider their situations…physical, mental, emotional and spiritual. Help us to meet the needs of our neighbors and help us to show Your love to them. Remove from us the selfishness that would help us to turn a blind eye to the lost and the needy around us!

Help us, Abba, to love one another. You have rightly written that we cannot love You, whom we cannot see, if we cannot love each other, whom we can see. Help us to love our brothers and sisters in You. Unify us. Make us one in Yeshua.

I praise You, Abba. I thank You for the many ways that You work in our lives. Thank You for healings and touches and provisions of many kinds throughout Your body. Thank You for Your incredible, amazing love for us. May we never take it for granted. May we always recognize how unearnable Your love is while we rest with a simple, childlike faith in it. b’shem Yeshua

Abba…there are times when we are under spiritual attack and we can feel as if we are drowning in all that is happening around us. Yet…we know You are here and that You are Sovereign over all that happens to us. Help us to trust You completely. Help us to praise You in the midst of whatever is going on. May Your Shalom guard our hearts and minds in Messiah Yeshua. May we wear our spiritual armor and take the spiritual battle seriously. May we never forget Who’s we are!

Protect our minds from the lies of the evil one. Protect the finances You have blessed us with from his attacks. Help us to be good stewards…not looking to ourselves but to the needs of others. Protect our bodies and our health. Protect our emotions and minds. Help us to trust Your promise that, if we seek first Your kingdom, all the other things will be provided.

Abba…keep our eyes and hearts and minds focused upon our true Home. Help us to remember that this world is just a temporary place to sojourn…not our permanent and real home…at least not in this form. We look forward to the day when Yeshua comes back. We look forward to the day when there will be a new heaven and a new earth. We look forward to the day when sin will be no more.

Abba…may our hope be only upon You…upon Yeshua…upon Your Ruach/Spirit! May YOU be the focus of our lives…of our minds…of our hearts. May YOU be the only Lord of our lives. May YOU be the only recipient of our worship. May we love YOU with everything we are and have and may we love our neighbors as ourselves and love one another. b’shem Yeshua